Readers with great expectations will find them fully satisfied by this tongue-in-cheek romp through a historic public House...
“He was the best of toms. He was the worst of toms.” And for all his harsh early life and unnatural dietary preferences, ragged London alley cat Skilley gets to look at a queen, too.
Landing a gig as mouser for the chophouse and writers’ hangout Ye Olde Cheshire Cheeseis a lifelong fantasy come true for both Skilley and the inn’s swarm of resident mice—because unlike his feline rivals, Skilley adores cheese and has no taste for mice at all. In fact it isn’t long before he and Pip, a mouse of parts who has learned to read and write, have become great friends. Deedy and Wright take this premise and run with it, tucking in appearances from Dickens, Thackeray and other writers of the time. Cat and mice unite to face such challenges as the arrival of a cruel new cat named Oliver (“Well, this was an unwelcome twist”), a mysterious cheese thief and, climactically, a wise but injured old raven that is the subject of a country-wide search that culminates in a visit to the inn by Queen Victoria Herself. Moser contributes splendid black-and-white illustrations that manage to be both realistic and funny, recalling Robert Lawson while retaining his own style.
Readers with great expectations will find them fully satisfied by this tongue-in-cheek romp through a historic public House that is the very opposite of Bleak. (Animal fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-56145-595-9
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
A slice of African-American life seldom explored in stories for young people and a must for readers of middle-grade fiction.
Twelve-year-old Sophie is the younger of two sisters in an upper-middle-class African-American family in 1965 Los Angeles.
Her older sister, Lily, is about to leave for college, and Sophie worries about her life without her. It is obvious that her parents’ marriage is having problems, and she can no longer count on Jennifer, the one white girl who had been her friend. Despite some misgivings, Sophie decides to try out for a play at the community center, which will bring her in close contact with the prejudiced girls in the neighborhood. In addition, the new housekeeper, Mrs. Baylor, seems to have it in for her. When Mrs. Baylor’s son begins doing odd jobs around the house, sparks fly between him and Lily—but despite Nathan’s success at college, Sophie’s mother deems him unsuitable for Lily due to his class and dark complexion. Nathan’s arrest during the Watts riots brings things to a head. This is a wonderfully written novel, one that manages to address complex subjects such as racism and colorism without sinking beneath them. Both the differences and similarities between the worlds of Sophie’s family and Nathan’s are handled with nuance. Most of all, this is an impressive coming-of-age story whose fully realized protagonist is surrounded by a rich supporting cast. Cultural details artfully evoke the tenor and tone of the times.
A slice of African-American life seldom explored in stories for young people and a must for readers of middle-grade fiction. (Historical fiction. 10-12)Pub Date: July 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-544-83957-1
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2017
PROFILES
Agenda-driven from “howl to snap”—but with action aplenty to go with considerations of complex issues.
The Moonlight Brigade sallies out from Ankle Snap Alley to free the local zoo’s captive creatures.
Prompted by the trapping of his mother and several alley residents to (it turns out) stock a new exhibit titled “The Urban Wild,” raccoon Kit intrepidly leads his motley crew of feral vigilantes on a nighttime rescue mission that, once he smells the miasma of fear and hears the birds’ “songs of sadness,” quickly becomes an effort to open all the cages and pens. But not every creature longs to escape the zoo’s comforts, and the quiet expedition quickly becomes a frantic life-and-death struggle. Though London’s characters do actively debate the conflicting allures of freedom and safety, he portrays the zoo as a nightmarish prison, where the habitats are painted fakes and a peaceable polar bear who elects to stay out of concern for his wild relatives is nonetheless shot at the climax by a panicked person. Ultimately the alley’s “pals of the paw” all escape, though the fates of the riddle-loving baboons, rapping mongooses, and other “animals who’d been trapped and put in a zoo” (as opposed to “zoo animals”) remain unclear. While encouraging readers to understand that “no one want[s] to be labeled by just one part of their life” is a worthy aim, embedding the conversation in the zoo-escape plot is perhaps not the most efficient way to go about it.
Agenda-driven from “howl to snap”—but with action aplenty to go with considerations of complex issues. (Animal fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Aug. 15, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-17101-7
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: April 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2017
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